A Very Special Christmas Eve

I love the holidays. There is something about Christmas time that makes me feel so happy inside, all warm and fuzzy. This year, I could not wait for Christmas. The only thing better than Christmas as a child is Christmas when you have children. 

Last year, Chris and I decided to make wrapping gifts on Christmas Eve a tradition. It's fun to just lounge around in comfy clothes, sit by the fire, sip on wine, and wrap gifts for the people you love. So that's exactly what we did. A Christmas story was on in the background and lucky for me, it got switched out for Christmas music instead. The Christmas music led to dancing while we were putting the wrapped gifts under the tree, which I loved.

As I was putting the last gift under the tree and fixing the gift tag on it, Chris said my name. When I turned around, he was down on one knee with a ring box in his hands. He opened it and asked me to marry him. I was in shock, completely surprised. I let out a surprised gasp and heard Chris say "well?" to which I responded "YES! YES! YES!" 

I am happier than I have ever been before. Chris has shown me what true love is and what true love feels like and I cannot wait to be his bride and future wife. He is my Prince Charming, the one I thought only existed in fairy tales. Chris is my happily ever after!

Ralphie...The final Chapter Until Next Year

If I am being honest, I am a little relieved that our Elf on a Shelf duties are over for the year. Overall, I think we came up with some pretty creative ideas and even if we didn't, Joshua was always surprised with the silly things that Ralphie did.

This morning was kind of fun because the Grinch trapped Ralphie in the popcorn maker. Joshua wasn't too sure about the Grinch but Grayson loved that his heart grew three sizes!

What preschooler (I can't believe Joshua is a preschooler) wouldn't love an elf who fishes with a candy cane? We probably should have thought this one through a bit more because all Joshua wanted to do for the day was go fishing. It is far too cold to sit outside and fish.

This one was a little last minute. It was late (and by late I mean around midnight and we rarely see past 10:30pm) and we had a small get together at our house because family from out of town was visiting. Earlier that day Joshua had wanted to put on tattoos so what did Ralphie happen to bring him? Tattooos! The tattoos have already been applied because I was a little late with the photo.

And this one...Chris had fun writing on the mirror but me on the other hand struggled to get it off.

Ralphie reading to the Christmas decorations is one of my favourites. It's cute, simple, and Joshua thought it was sweet. And Ralphie is reading one of my favourite childhood books (I love reading the boys books that Chris and I used to read when we were kids).

I was not creative with this one at all. Chris was at a hockey party and I was left in charge.

And finally, Ralphie brought the boys Christmas ornaments on Christmas Eve, which I completely forgot to get a picture of. Joshua loved his Marshall Paw Patrol ornament and Grayson got a reindeer that says "Little Stinker" on it because that is exactly what he is.

Elf on a Shelf was a hit this year and Joshua was so cute when he gave Ralphie a hug good bye (the only time he's been allowed to touch Ralphie) and then gently put him back under the tree for Santa to pick up. I'm sure next year I'll be just as excited to start Elf on a Shelf as I was this year, but for now, I'm relieved it is over.

That Damned Elf

Okay, in theory, this Elf on a Shelf thing seemed like a great idea. Oh ya, we will have so much fun getting this elf to do different things each night and the boys will love it. Let me be the first to say that I completely understand why elves come down with a bad flu or break a leg and can’t move for a week or just completely disappear because the parents have had enough of the stupid thing.

Once you start though, you can’t stop. It’s like a trap. When you buy the elf the cashiers are full of smiles and tell you how much fun you will have moving the elf each night and how there are so many neat ideas out in there for your elf to do, meanwhile, they are secretly laughing at you and what they really want to say is “do you know what you are getting yourself into?” Well, no, I didn’t, but because the stupid elf puts a smile on my kids’ faces I will continue to move the damned elf each night.

This one was a rather clever one. The night before Joshua was refusing to eat his dinner. Didn’t want, it wasn’t any good, didn’t like it. So after bath we told him it was bedtime because he didn’t eat. Well, let me tell you how appealing dinner was at that point. He cleared his plate and all was well again in our house. But Santa saw that our struggle was real and left a note for him, and Grayson, the next morning.

We were so over the elf this night lost our creativity and Ralphie just drew funny faces on our fruit. And to my surprise, it was a big hit with Joshua.

Joshua also thought it was funny when he discovered Ralphie hanging upside down in the laundry with some of Grayson’s diapers. He was pretty happy that Ralphie was helping me with the laundry.

Raphie didn’t make breakfast this morning, but he did grab a quick snack for the boys to have…close enough.

Ralphie surprised the boys the next morning with letters from Santa. Joshua loved his letter and is thrilled that he is on the nice list for now. On second thought, maybe Ralphie should have waited until right before Christmas to bring those letters.

Next, Ralphie ended up in the stocking. I had a ladies’ evening out and was home late so this was as good as it was getting.

Here, Ralphie has made a zip line and swinging along on an ornament.

And finally, Ralphie decided to take it easy and help me with my crocheting. He sure made a mess of my ball of yarn, but I can’t complain because Joshua was delighted when he saw Ralphie helping me finish part of Grandma’s gift. 

Ralphie Part II

I think our Elf may be broken. He is full of shenanigans...I know think Santa missed the memo when we asked for an Elf that did laundry, cleaned the house, made breakfast, and tidied the kitchen.

Instead, we caught Ralphie shaving in the bathroom, which wouldn’t have been a problem except for the mess he made. If Santa brings Joshua a shaving kit for Christmas I sure hope he takes his pointers from Chris and not his Elf.

Ralphie also TP’ed our master bedroom. When Joshua saw the mess he exclaimed “Ralphie make Joshua sad.” Joshua thought his Elf had made a mess that he would have to clean up (not a 3 year old’s favourite chore) but we quickly assured him that Ralphie would be cleaning up his mess before he left for the North Pole.

Along his way to the North Pole, Ralphie must have caught a small cold thank goodness. Joshua found him sleeping in a tissue box in his bathroom.

The next morning, Ralphie was back to his old tricks. Joshua was delighted when he saw Ralphie hanging in front of his door. He quickly told us that Ralphie had been kicking his door.

I love the imagination that Joshua has. His imagination gives me a completely new view on the world and I love enjoying it through his eyes! 

Ralphie

There are some exciting things happening in our house right now…like how every morning an elf, named Ralphie, magically appears to Joshua’s surprise and delight.

I’m not 100% sure where Santa found this elf but he is full of shenanigans. At first glance, he appeared to be a mild mannered elf who was just sent to keep an eye on the boys and report back to Santa, but oh no, he had us fooled! On day 2 he was already up to no good snatching the chocolate syrup and drinking straight from the bottle. Joshua was not too happy about this. When he saw Ralphie was drinking all of his chocolate milk, he firmly (by firmly I mean in a voice just above a whisper without any anger in his voice at all) told us in his 3 year old way “Ralphie get Joshua angry.” At this point I couldn’t help but smile and be so proud of him for expressing his emotions through his words and not through actions. His anger quickly turned to happiness when he realized that Ralphie had already made him a glass of chocolate milk…phew!!

Yesterday, I was not 100% sure what sort of trouble Ralphie ran into on his way to and from the North Pole but he made a mess trying to get all of his boo boos taken care of. Joshua seemed concerned about the number of bandaids Ralphie required but we assured him that Ralphie was okay and on his way to feeling better.

As for this morning, well, I don't really know how to explain this morning. All I can say is our Christmas tree has a few extra ornaments on it that we did not add.

I wonder what surprise will be in store for us tomorrow!

Oh, Christmas Tree

Setting up the Christmas tree is something I always look forward to. It always gets me in the Christmas spirit and it makes the house so cozy. This year, Chris and I were going to buy a real tree (his idea), something I’ve never had before. That idea flew out the window when I realized a) you can’t just set your tree up in November without it making a mess of your house and not looking so great by Christmas, b) there’s the potential for rodents and bugs and other forest creatures to be hiding in your tree waiting to cozy up by the fireplace in your house and c) they are more of a fire hazard if not properly taken care of. So needless to say, we decided to buy a fake tree so I could enjoy it a little longer.

I have to say, our Christmas tree is beautiful. I love that it has ornaments on it from when I was a child and when Chris was a child and now it has our children’s ornaments on it as well. Our Christmas tree really is a family tree and I love snuggling up in front of it on cold snowy nights. I also love watching the boys with the Christmas tree. Joshua is still just as fascinated by the tree as he was when he was only a year and a half old and Grayson, well, he is Grayson. He makes it his mission to pull ornaments off the tree any chance he gets (which is why we replaced all of our glass balls with plastic ones). 

Fluffy Bum

The words cloth and diapers get thrown around a lot in our house and that’s because we cloth diaper Grayson. Grayson wasn’t always cloth diapered but a few months ago, we decided to start. I already had an entire stash of diapers purchased for Joshua (that I used on and off with him) so it was just a matter of washing them, prepping them, and using them. I was pleasantly surprised when I realized that cloth diapering Grayson seemed so much easier than cloth diapering Joshua…and I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because I had previous experience, or maybe because they just fit Grayson better, but this is the longest consecutive stretch I have gone with cloth diapering…I normally need a break after a month.

It’s been 5 months now since we started and my only complaint has been finding a wash routine that works with the washing machine in our new house. I have a hate-on for our washing machine and I desperately want a new one…one that is bigger and works better. So finding a wash routine was tricky and it took me over a month…Chris was the lucky one who heard the blunt of my complaining (and I still occasionally complain and day dream of the day we get to go buy a new one).

Hopefully this wash routine continues to work for us. My only worry is that since I have to use quite a large amount of detergent for the machine to clean properly that I’ll have to end up stripping my diapers because of detergent build up. Only time will tell.  

As it sits right now, I am happy with cloth diapering and love having a fluffy bum in our house!